


And It's Peaceful In The Deep

by fightforyourwrite



Category: Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Forests, Horses, Post-Canon, Swimming, Teasing, Underwater
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24286096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fightforyourwrite/pseuds/fightforyourwrite
Summary: Somewhat suddenly, Aurora pulled her feet out of the water and stood up.Phillip didn’t think much of it until she removed her shawl and asked a rather peculiar question.“Have you ever gone swimming before?”
Relationships: Aurora & Phillip (Disney), Aurora/Phillip (Disney)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	And It's Peaceful In The Deep

**Author's Note:**

> btw, this fic involved me doing research regarding medieval undergarments. 
> 
> Oh the things I do for fanfic during quarantine... 
> 
> And also! The title for this fic is a lyric from the song "Never Let Me Go" by Florence + The Machine.

Spending time in the woods became their way of being truly alone. Despite their current engagement, it was surprisingly difficult to find solitary moments together. Most waking hours involved them being around family members or castle workers. Queen Leah in particular was adamant on making sure that Aurora didn’t lock the door whenever Phillip and her were alone in a room together — even if all Aurora wanted to do was talk to her fianc é privately. 

Traversing the woods was a good way of ignoring the world. Amongst other troubles, the preparations of their upcoming wedding were rather vexing to the engaged couple. When Aurora wasn’t sorting out the seating chart, she was being asked about the colour of the table runners. When Phillip wasn’t being fitted for his dress robes, he was being asked about flower arrangements.

Being in the woods made Aurora feel calm, as she was practically re-entering the element she was raised in. Riding horseback through the countryside made Phillip feel free from the stresses that were currently peppered into his routine.

During a sunny day without a cloud in the sky, the couple climbed on the backs of their mighty steeds — Samson and Mirette — and travelled until the blue sky above was replaced with the cover of trees. 

Aurora led the way for the most part. She knew these woods like the back of her hand, having memorized everything from the cliff with the view of her father’s castle to the large aging oak tree that she climbed as a child.

She took Phillip to a part of the woods he had not seen before, travelling up north where the trees collected at the base of a mountain. They arrived at a river, then travelled up until they came across a waterfall. It was a simple structure where water cascaded off a cliff, said cliff being roughly twelve feet tall. Before the water would rush down the river, it seemed to collect a bit at the base in a semi-still pool. 

The couple got off their horses and lashed them to a tree. As Samson chewed on some nearby grass and Mirette sipped from water from the river, Phillip and Aurora stood in front of the waterfall and took in the scenery. 

Phillip in particular was quite impressed by the sight. The sound of the water crashing on the rocks felt like a constant surge of soothing noise. Suddenly, it made more sense as to why his fianc ée had brought him here. 

As per usual during their forest trips, Aurora was quick to remove her shoes. With a contented smile, tossed them towards a nearby tree and walked towards the water.

When she got close enough, she sat on the bank and hung her legs out so her feet would dip into the water. Once she was submerged up to her ankles, Aurora let out a blissful sigh. The look of relief and pleasure on her face made it clear that she was waiting to do that for quite some time.

Phillip followed her example and began removing his riding boots. He tossed his boots aside and made his way towards his fianc ée , sitting beside her and letting his bare feet touch the water as well.

In seconds, Aurora snuggled close to him and leaned against him, pressing her head into the crook of his neck like it was the most natural thing in the world. Her hand found his in seconds, as if to solidify their closeness.

“I came here a lot when I was young,” she mentioned casually.

“Why so?” 

“Because no one could hear me.” 

Phillip raised an eyebrow, then shifted his gaze towards Aurora in anticipation for an answer.

Instead of speaking, Aurora faced the waterfall and raised her hand towards her face. She positioned her fingers inside her mouth and let out a rather loud whistle. While the noise was sudden and startling, it was mostly masked by the sound of the crashing waterfall. When Aurora put her hand down, the resonating tone of the river continued on without a hitch. A few seconds passed and it was almost like Aurora never whistled at all. 

Phillip, who was still recovering from the suddenness of the noise, tried to say something smart.

“Makes sense.” 

Aurora smirked and looked out into the water, kicking her feet playfully.

“It was just nice to get out of that cottage,” she explained contentedly. “But the first time I came here, I slipped and fell in. Flora saved me and told me to never come back.”

“I’m gonna guess you didn’t heed that advice, am I right?”

Aurora couldn’t help but smirk. “Maybe.”

Then they went quiet for a while, simply not talking and letting the sound of the waterfall drown out their thoughts. 

Truthfully, he missed moments like this. So much of his visits to her home involved something involving their wedding. Even the more entertaining tasks — like practicing a dance or taste-testing h'orderves felt more cumbersome than enjoyable. All of that left very little time for Phillip to enjoy Aurora’s company. 

So there they were, sitting on the bank of a river — no stress, no pestering from servants, just the presence of the woman who he would soon marry.

On occasion, he glanced over to Aurora, who seemed to be absolutely captivated by the waterfall. He couldn’t help but smile — she just looked so at peace in nature, so content with the world around her. It was always moments like these that made Phillip fall a little more in love with her. 

Then somewhat suddenly, Aurora pulled her feet out of the water and stood up. 

Phillip didn’t think much of it until she removed her shawl and asked a rather peculiar question.

“Have you ever gone swimming before?” 

All Phillip could do was sit there and blink. “Uh, not really, no. Is that… is that what you’re doing?”

“Yes,” Aurora replied simply, walking to where she had thrown her shoes. “What else would one do here?” 

There was a kind of simplicity to the way Aurora handled things. She removed her gown and stockings until she was down to her chemise, then placed the clothing on a drier part of the ground. 

Throughout the whole process, Phillip found that the only thing he could do was awkwardly avert his gaze.

Once that was done, Aurora walked to the edge of the bank and leapt into the water with ease — one second she was in the air, the next she was slipping into the river and disappearing under the surface.

A few seconds passed, then Aurora resurfaced to take a breath of air. After that, she began to explore the water without a care in the world. By the way she moved in the flowing liquid, it was definitely clear that she had done this before.

At first, Phillip found himself continuing to avert his eyes. For a reason that he knew well but didn’t feel like acknowledging right now, he felt his face getting a little warmer than usual. But a few seconds passed and the initial discomfort began to wear off. 

Not having swam before, Phillip watched Aurora in utter fascination. She made the whole process seem so seamless, yet it seemed so foreign to the person who was new to it. 

Aurora was mostly submerged, only her shoulders and head were above the water. She had a playful grin on her face as she looked up at him.

“Having fun, are you?” Phillip asked, amused.

“Just a bit,” Aurora replied. Like before, she dove downwards and disappeared underneath the surface, then resurfaced again once she needed a breath of air. 

With an air of mischievousness, she looked up to her fianc é and asked: 

“So is this a ‘you can’t swim’ kind of thing? Or a ‘you don’t swim’ kind of thing?” 

Phillip knew what she was asking of him. “More of a ‘can’t swim’ thing,” he answered honestly, punctuating his words with a lighthearted chuckle. 

“There’s really nothing to it,” Aurora assured. She moved near the edge of the bank and kept her eyes on him. “All you have to do is float.”

Phillip thought for a moment — learning to swim wasn’t never exactly a priority for him. Frankly, there was something a little ridiculous about his sudden reservations — the young man who had slayed a dragon a year ago was somehow intimidated by the idea of jumping into some water. 

Seconds passed and Phillip made his choice. He stood up and took his feet out of the water. On the bank, he slowly removed his tunic and stockings until he was left in his linen breeches. Now that he was bare to the waist, he felt the chill of the forest air gracing his body, the waterfall spraying light miniscule droplets onto his skin. It wasn’t cold enough for him to suddenly regret the decision, but he couldn’t help wondering (and dreading) just how frigid the river would be once he actually leapt in. 

He looked to Aurora, who now seemed rather nervous. Similarly to him, she appeared to be affixing her gaze to literally anything else. 

Under normal circumstances, Phillip would have rolled his eyes and let out a laugh, perhaps following things up with a teasing comment. But these circumstances were different — for some reason, a nervous pang was now seeping into his stomach. 

To quash his fear, he looked around the area, surveying the trees and rocks and bushes for anything out of the ordinary. 

This did not go unnoticed by his fianc ée. 

“Is something wrong, Phillip?”

“People don’t snoop around here, do they?” he asked somewhat sheepishly. He let out an awkward chuckle. 

Aurora shook her head. “Not that I know of.”

“Good to know. I couldn’t want my father to hear that his son was seen frolicking bare-chested in the woods.”

There was a beat, then Aurora replied, “Well, that’s a fascinating image to think of.”

Phillip felt humoured and cracked a slight smile. Now somewhat less apprehensive about the ordeal, he approached the edge of the bank with careful steps and leapt straight in. His body sank into the water with the grace of a rather large rock. 

Once he was beneath the surface, Phillip’s senses were overwhelmed with the world below. His ears were once filled with the noise of the woods, now they were brimming with the dull, yet sonorous sound of the waterfall. He opened his eyes to see the cascading water forcing millions of small white bubbles into the river. 

He looked around and soon saw Aurora from the shoulders down, her feet were kicking to keep herself afloat and the fabric of her chemise flowed loosely in the liquid.

Curiously, Phillip glanced downwards and saw the bottom of the river. It was perplexing of him to see something so similar to the ground below him, yet his feet were so far from touching it. 

Despite the water being exactly as cold as he expected it to be, Phillip didn’t want to leave this strange dark world. He liked the feeling of floating, a sensation that could not be replicated on dry land.

Unfortunately, reality ensued and Phillip realized that he needed to breathe. Imitating his fianc ée, he kicked his legs and moved upwards. When he surfaced, Aurora was smirking at him. 

“Having fun?” she joked. 

“Close to it,” Phillip said. He kicked his feet some more in an effort to keep his head above the water. While doing so, he couldn’t help but realize that the water was  _ exactly _ as frigid as he predicted. 

“Good god,” he remarked, trying to stop himself from shivering. “Is the river always this cold?”

“You get used to it,” Aurora said. With a playful grin, she swam around him.

Phillip watched the way she moved, tried to imitate her, then soon discovered that swimming was a bit more difficult than he thought. Instead of floating effortlessly like his fiancee, he found himself having to kick harder just to keep himself from sinking. He wasn’t sure what it was, the chill of the water or his apparent lack of natural buoyancy, but Phillip found that the only way for him to not sink like a rock was to flop around like a majestic carp. 

None of this was lost on Aurora. After a few seconds of witnessing Phillip floundering around (and finding it to be awfully amusing), she asked a rather appropriate question.

“Need a hand?” 

“Maybe a bit.”

Aurora rolled her eyes and swam closer to him. She had him place his arm around her shoulder and helped guide him to the edge of the river, almost towing him in a sense. With his free hand, Phillip felt around the water for something to brace himself against. With the help of his (very patient) fiancee, he soon found himself sitting on a kind of underwater ledge. It helped him keep his head above water without forcing him to keep paddling, while also giving him a good view of the river and the waterfall. 

“Thanks,” Phillip lauded with an honest grin.

“You’re welcome,” Aurora said, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead to punctuate her words. Gently, she maneuvered around to sit on the same ledge.

Like they did when they were just dipping their feet into the river, they sat there for a while, remaining silent as the sound of the waterfall and the sensation of the water filled their senses. Gently, Aurora held onto Phillip’s hand, making sure that their fingers were entwined. 

“You liked it down there, didn’t you?” Aurora casually brought up. “Underwater?”

“You could tell?” 

Aurora nodded her head. “I love that feeling,” she said with an air of sadness. The way she spoke imbued a sense of longing and yearning into her voice. “The silence… the stillness… the tranquility…”

Phillip blinked, concerned. He wanted to say something smart, yet no words came to his mind. Instead, he simply stayed in his place and waited for Aurora to speak once more.

But instead of talking, Aurora swam away from him. She moved through the water gracefully, gently turning over until she was looking upwards. Now on her back, her eyes were affixed onto the tree branches above as her wet golden hair moved freely in the water in long thin wisps. 

She took in a breath, then exhaled just as slowly.

“Do you miss it?” asked Phillip, finally having found something worth saying. 

For a moment, Aurora said nothing and kept on floating like the being of the forest she was. 

“Of course,” she answered after a beat. “Of course, I do.”

They stayed like this for a while, Phillip just sitting in the water and Aurora letting herself drift on the surface without a care in the world. 

Phillip refused to let himself be bothered by anything else. Instead of thinking about the ever-so stressful wedding preparations or anything of the like, he simply closed his eyes and let himself be — allowing his senses to be filled with nothing but the chill of the river and the sound of the waterfall.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before the sound of a horse whinnying startled him out of his trance. When Phillip opened his eyes, he looked over to the bank to see Mirette staring boredly down at the two humans in the river.

Aurora noticed her horse and seemed to know exactly what her steed wanted. She repositioned herself until she was floating vertically in the water, swam towards the edge of the bank, and climbed onto dry land. 

“Hungry, Mirette?” Aurora asked in a playful tone, wringing some of the wetness out of her hair. She walked over to her steed and affectionately rubbed the creature’s nose. She then opened up the pouch on Mirette’s saddle and pulled out a shiny green apple.

From the river, Phillip found himself watching as his fianc ée fed her horse a well-earned a treat. While he did so, he couldn’t help but notice the fact that he was staring at his fianc ée was currently clad in a rather soaked underdress.

Suddenly, Phillip became  _ very _ thankful that the water in the river was so cold. 

**Author's Note:**

> Y'know, I figured it'd be best to end the fic with a joke and not a long explanation of how Phillip and Aurora made it back to the castle on horseback despite their undergarments being soaked.


End file.
